Fundraiser seeks $32,000 to bring services to Whonnock elder’s home

A fundraising campaign is seeking $32,000 to move a donated trailer to the Maple Ridge property of Florence Thomas, an 82-year-old Whonnock elder, and connect it to utilities. Organizers say the replacement trailer would provide a proper living space, indoor washroom and running water.

Thomas has lived in an aging trailer beside the railway tracks along the Fraser River since her house was torn down in 2009. She has no running water or electricity, rents an outdoor portable toilet for $158 a month and buys 12 two-litre jugs of water each week, according to the Xwewenaqw Xwexwilmexw Cultural Reclamation Society.

Thomas has no vision in her right eye and is three-quarters deaf in her left ear. Without refrigeration, she relies on canned meat and dry goods and cooks with a propane stove. Her family and community help with water, firewood and medical care, but organizers say they cannot cover major costs such as septic work, grading and utility engineering.

Carlin O’Grady of the society said the off-grid acreage is on Thomas’s ancestral homeland in the Whonnock area. She said a replacement home was promised through administrative arrangements following the federal amalgamation of Whonnock Nation under the Indian Act, but was never delivered.

Thomas, who has eight children, 31 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, said she hopes a serviced home will allow her family to gather on the land. Donations are being accepted at https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/donation-form/help-bring-florence-home-campaign.